Path of Exile
by Blurredpaw
Summary: One lone warrior realises the futility of the honours he's been fighting for his entire life. Can he stop his Clan from falling victim to the evil they've unknowingly created? T to be safe. ON HOLD


"_Weakling!" Darkpaw heard his mentor Goldenpelt mew meanly. "Get up! Sometimes I even wonder why it's worth training you."_

_Darkpaw reluctantly pulled himself off the ground and coughed up dust and a tiny amount of blood. Why did Acidstar have to give him such a mean mentor? The frail she-cat was, as the whole Clan knew, slowly losing her mind to the power of old age. Soon she would die, and Shallowpool, the current deputy, would become leader. Darkpaw knew that Goldenpelt would do anything to become the new deputy of ThunderClan; by pushing his apprentice hard and turning him into a fine warrior, Goldenpelt was more than a candidate for deputy. But Darkpaw didn't think Goldenpelt was being fair to him. He obviously didn't realise that there was a fine line between training and torture._

"_Please..." Darkpaw wheezed pathetically. "I...I can't go on..."_

"_Nonsense!" Goldenpelt mewed, cuffing his gasping apprentice around the air. "Get up, or you'll have more to worry about than training!"_

_Darkpaw collapsed onto his side. "No more...please..." he gasped, struggling to breathe. "Can't..."_

"_Get up!" Goldenpelt roared. "I've had enough of you for today, weakling. You're just a pathetic little squirt...why not get up and face me like a real warrior?"_

_Darkpaw was dimly aware of a commotion at the entrance to the training hollow, and he recognised the medicine cat Burningrose's condescending voice yowling at the top of her lungs. "What have you done to him?" she shrieked, instantly running to Darkpaw's side. She glared at Goldenpelt with steely eyes. "You remember what Acidstar said about pushing apprentices too hard!" she growled accusingly. "Why didn't you listen?"_

"_Rosestar has lost five of her nine lives from old age," Goldenpelt retorted. "She doesn't know what she's saying. If our apprentices are pushed hard enough, they'll all become finer warriors."_

"_But if you push them too hard, they'll die!" Burningrose tore her steely gaze away from Goldenpelt and focused on Darkpaw in front of her. "Goldenpelt! Get your sorry, flea-bitten pelt out of here and fetch my apprentice Rosepaw. Tell her to bring cobwebs, juniper berries, thyme and a little marigold. Also bring two strong warriors to help me get Darkpaw back to camp."_

_Goldenpelt nodded sourly. "As you wish," he mewed bitterly, before lashing his tail angrily and padding back to camp._

"_Faster!" Burningrose barked. "Just because he's your apprentice doesn't mean you can do this to him!"_

_Goldenpelt started running a bit faster. She shook her head sadly. Burningrose knew that Darkpaw was barely over six moons old; judging by his wounds, he hadn't even been taught any fighting moves. She also knew that Goldenpelt had had a troubled past, and had a reputation for being a bully. This had been his first apprentice, even though he was a senior warrior. Burningrose sighed in utter disappointment; she couldn't believe that her own brother had done this to such a tiny scap of fur. Darkpaw's bleeding and battered body shook with every constricted breath he took. _

_Rosebud burst in with three warriors, one of them Goldenpelt, the other two a couple called Eternalgaze and Brightsorrow, who had just announced that they were mates. Brightsorrow stared in shock at Darkpaw's shattered body. "What happened?" she asked, pelting over to her Clanmate. "Goldenpelt, what did you do?"_

_Goldenpelt shrugged. "Nothing. We were just training and I was winning."_

_Eternalgaze glared furiously at Goldenpelt. "Nothing like this could happen from training!" he snarled. _

_Rosebud padded up to Darkpaw's unresponsive body. "Brightsorrow, Eternalblaze-give Burningrose and Goldenpelt a hand with Darkpaw. I'm going ahead to report this to Acidstar." She bounded angrily through the training hollow exit. _

_Burningrose, with the help of Eternalgaze, Brightsorrow and Goldenpelt, transported Darkpaw to the safety of the medicine den. She started to patch up some of Darkpaw's wounds when Rosebud appeared. The ginger she-cat mewed breathlessly, "He's going to have a Clan meeting."_

"_Who?" Burningrose asked urgently. "Not Goldenpelt?"_

"_Your brother wouldn't dare," Rosebud answered. "Acidstar is telling Shallowpool about what happened today in the training hollow right now. Then he's calling a Clan meeting."_

_Burningrose nodded. "Do you want to go out and report back to me? One of us has to stay here in case Darkpaw wakes up."_

_Rosebud shook her head. "I'll stay, if it's alright with you," she mewed. "You're senior, so you should get all the fun of seeing Goldenpelt get told off in front of the whole Clan."_

_Burningrose nodded tersely, before padding out and waiting for Acidstar to call a Clan meeting._

_He soon did, and he began a speech about what had happened._

"_Cats of ThunderClan," he announced, "today something tragic has happened-a young apprentice has been scarred for life while being trained by his mentor. This is something so awful, so vile, that I have decided to exile the cat that did this to young Darkpaw."_

_Shocked gasps echoed around the Clan. Burningrose drew a shaky breath. Her own brother was about to be exiled! How did this happen? She saw Goldenpelt looking alarmed. Cats turned to look at him and hissed. _

_Acidstar cleared his throat. "Order!" The Clan instantly settled. "Goldenpelt, on the day that you became a warrior, you made a promise that you swore you would keep. Now you have broken it. What have you to say for yourself?"_

_Goldenpelt sobbed. "I was only trying to train him," he mewed in anguish, standing up. "I thought Darkpaw was trying to get out of training...I'm sorry!" He howled in distress, and the cats around him backed away._

_Acidstar's tone was still steely. "It doesn't matter. You have almost killed a young apprentice."_

"_Please!" Goldenpelt sobbed, crumpling into a pathetic ball. "I didn't mean it! I didn't know he was hurting when he collapsed!"_

"_Yes, you did." Burningrose was surprised to find herself speaking against her brother, but she ploughed on relentlessly. "You said that pushing an apprentice is a good thing because it toughens them up. I heard you say that myself. But you don't know when training becomes torture, Goldenpelt!"_

_Goldenpelt stared at her. "I thought you were my sister," he growled. "I thought you of all cats would have stood up for me. Guess I was wrong, huh?"_

_He lashed his tail, spat on the ground, and bounded out of camp. And that was it. Goldenpelt was officially in exile. _

_Acidstar nodded tersely. "This Clan meeting is over. Goldenpelt will not, I repeat, will not be spoken off in this Clan ever again." The frail tom padded back into his den._

_Burningrose shook her head numbly and padded into the medicine den. She barely noticed Rosebud greeting her and asking what had happened. She tried to speak, but couldn't. She managed one tiny word..._

"_Exile."_

_Rosebud gasped. "Oh, StarClan...Goldenpelt got exiled?"_

_Burningrose nodded. She squeezed her eyes together, trying to stop the flow of tears, but she couldn't. She sobbed. "He's never coming back," she cried. "Goldenpelt..."_

_She knew that Acidstar was right for exiling her only sibling; Darkpaw would never recover from the traumatic experience and she was almost glad to see her brother go. But the thought that she would never see him again made her weep._

_All her life she'd lived with pain and sorrow._

_And now there was more of it?_

_Her life was just a big mistake...  
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